


Falling for You

by itsmelucy123



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:53:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmelucy123/pseuds/itsmelucy123
Summary: You had always been above average in school, but you never really had taken thought to where your grades could take you, until last year when you were applying for colleges. Having high expectations set on you was normal for you, being the oldest sibling and all, so you tried your hardest to meet them. After being accepted into one of your top choice colleges, you had been basically jumping with joy for your first day on September 12th, until the day actually rolled around the corner. How will running into Tsukishima Kei in a coffee shop on the way to class change your future?
Relationships: Shimizu Kiyoko/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Tsukishima Kei/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Fresh Start

**Author's Note:**

> (See the end for notes)

Your alarm goes off on your phone and you fumble around trying to find the button to turn it off when the loud noises finally stop. You wrap your blanket around your head to block all of the light that is coming in from your dorm window, and with no luck, you give up and toss the blanket aside. Glancing at your phone, you see the time reads 9:13 on a Tuesday morning. Looking around the room, you begin to take in the new day. The surroundings were still new to you, a small room with two beds on either side of the room, with two desks and two wardrobes as the basic furniture, nothing more than you’d expect from a college dorm. Sitting up on your bed gave you a better view of the room, and you saw that your roommate, Kiyoko Shimizu, was still peacefully sound asleep. 

We had moved into our dorms a few days before classes began, so we had a bit of time to become acquainted with one another. She was a senior, but she had just transferred to this school this year, so she was about three years older than you. You were glad that she also didn’t know much about this school yet either, but it would be a struggle to navigate around the campus. From the few days that you’ve gotten to know Kiyoko, you have realized just how kind she is, and even though you can tell she is shy, she is able to present herself very well.

You smile and shake your head while looking at Kiyoko, wondering how anyone could sleep through the alarm that went off. Right as you were about to nudge her awake, you remembered how she said she didn’t have classes until 1:00 in the afternoon, so you let her rest. 

You make your way over to your designated wardrobe and look through your pile of clothes to decide what to wear. You stand there thinking about different options, until you decide on your favorite pair of mom jeans and a forest green oversized sweater, which you tucked into the front of your jeans. You pull your hair into a loose bun and slip on your shoes. As you are about to open the door and leave your room, you remember to grab the textbook you need, and you head out. 

While you walk down the stairs of your dorm building, you check your phone again to see if you have time to get coffee before your 10:00 class, and your phone reads 9:38, “I will be able to make it,” you whisper to yourself as you feel the morning air embrace you. 

Although the campus was a confusing place to navigate, on the first day you were here, you made sure to locate the campus coffee shop and remember where it is. As you start a light jog to reach the cafe, you feel the cold, fall air against your hands, and you begin to regret not bringing gloves with you. Your mind starts to wonder as you think about how the year will go and if you will be able to meet your parents expectations. You are brought back to reality when you see the cafe around the corner, and you slow your jog to a walk.

You open the glass door for the cafe, and the warmth from inside wraps its arms around you. The room isn’t too crowded, and you make your way to the ordering line. You stand behind a tall guy with blond hair, he looks like he could be around 6’2 or 6’3, and you notice that he doesn’t seem like he’s in a great mood, as he scowls down at his phone. Besides you and him in line, you see that there’s a few friends and couples drinking coffee together, as well as others sitting at the tables typing on their computers.

You get called up to order, and you get your favorite, just a plain cappuccino. You paid for your drink and get told to wait a few minutes, and you end up standing near the guy who was in front of you in line. Seeing him from a different perspective, you notice that he has dark framed glasses and light brown eyes. From this perspective, you notice how attractive he really is, with his sharp facial features, and how he looks mature and well kept together, although the scowl hasn’t left his face. 

“Tsukishima?” The barista calls out a name for an order, and the tall blond next to you reacts by going to grab his drink. 

Although having a name to go with his face is helpful, you doubt you will be using it. You see him make his way over to a spot to grab napkins and he slips his phone in his back pocket.

Your name is called, and you go over to retrieve your coffee. You grab a stir stick, take the lid off of your drink, and mix around the milk and foam into the coffee. You place the lid back on and get ready to leave the building. You make your way over to the glass door from which you entered, when someone steps out in front of you, and you run straight into them. You try to regain your balance and catch your coffee, but when you do, it ends up spilling down the side of your jeans. 

“Um, hey, can you maybe watch where you’re going?” Says the person who you ran into, but you don’t notice who said it because you quickly become distracted by the coffee on your pant leg.

“Excuse me?” You reply, “But you were the one who randomly stepped out in front of me.” 

You make your way over to the table with napkins and utensils on them, and you can hear footsteps following you. You turn around and see the blonde guy, Tsukishima, who had ordered before you, and you realize he’s the one you must have bumped into. You pull napkins out from the dispenser and pat your leg down, trying to soak all of the coffee out of your jeans. You toss the napkins in the trash, sigh, and look up at Tsukishima, who looks like he’s waiting for an apology. 

“I’m sorry for running into you.” You say, reluctantly. Any other time you wouldn’t have given up so easily, but you were going to be late for your lecture if you didn’t leave soon, and it didn’t seem like this guy was going to apologize so quickly. 

“Whatever, it’s okay, do you need any more help cleaning up? I’m about to be late for my first class.” He replied in a lighter tone then you expected from his facial expression.

“No I will be fine, you can go.” You say and wave him off. 

You watch Tsukishima nod at you, then turn around and leave the building. You wish you had been able to stand your ground more than you did, but the way he looked down at you, and the way he spoke threw you off guard, so that was all you had been able to say. You gather your textbook and the remainder of your coffee and make your way for the door as well. 

For a minute you awkwardly follow Tsukishima, but you end up turning a corner and go a different way. You look down at your jeans and see the remains of the coffee that is left there. “I am glad that I wore these today instead of my lighter jeans,” you think to yourself, trying to stay positive because you didn’t want this small problem to end up ruining your day. 

————————————————————————————

You made it to the lecture hall for your introduction to economics class, and you take a seat in one of the middle rows. You take out your notebook and pen, and place your textbook down on the desk in front of you in case it is needed. You look around the hall and see so many unfamiliar faces, it makes you start to wish you had gone to more of a local college with your friends. You scan the room to see if you notice anyone that you even somewhat recognize from orientation, when you see someone with blonde hair sit down two rows ahead of you. 

“Is that Tsukishima again?” You whisper under your breath so no one around you heard, “We went different ways though.”

Although you did go two different ways, you did come to the conclusion that he was in fact the same person who you ran into this morning, and he must have just taken a different way then you had. He sat down next to someone who wasn’t too much shorter than him with brown hair. They seemed to be joking together, and Tsukishima started to shake his head while the other laughed, when the professor came to the front of the class and everyone quieted down. 

————————————————————————————

“Please review the syllabus for this class and begin chapter 1 of your Intro to Econ textbook!” The professor said to the class again as everyone packed up their things and left.

You made your way out of the hall and into the foyer where you sat down to check your phone. It was now 11:45 in the morning and you had a few texts from Kiyoko to read, most likely of her being frustrated that you didn’t wake her up so she could see you off to your first class of college. You stand up to put your phone back in your pocket and exit the building through the side doors. 

The temperature wasn’t much warmer than it was in the morning, but it wasn’t unbearable. You begin to make your way back to your dorm to take a nap because you didn’t have any more classes on Tuesdays. You take in the scenery around you, and the noise of people talking all around you. You wish you had been able to meet more people besides Kiyoko, but having her was better than nothing. As you are making your way back, you reach the coffee shop again and see Tsukishima standing outside, it seemed like he was waiting for someone. As you begin to pass the cafe, he makes his way towards you and you slow down a bit.

“So we meet again,” you say in a somewhat sassy tone. 

“Yeah I guess we do,” he said back and chuckled under his breath, “I just felt bad about how you got coffee all over your jeans earlier, so I was wondering if I could make it up to you by getting you coffee sometime.” He sounded nervous, like what he had just said was scripted

“No it’s alright, I got most of it out of my pants anyways, it was no big deal,” you replied, trying to help lighten the mood.

“No really, I insist,” Tsukishima presses on.

“If you really want to, then that’s fine,” you smile and tell him your name, “Thursday at 11 works for me.”

“Okay then, I’ll be here at 11,” he waved, and headed off in the other direction. 

Whether he was forced to say all of that, or if he acted like that all of the time, seeing him nervous like that made you laugh. You begin making your way back to the dorm, when you see a tree with the fall colors of oranges and yellows blooming off of it. You walk through the grass and hear the crisp sound of leaves beneath your feet. You slump down against the tree trunk. 

“This really is the best time of the year,” you say to yourself as random thoughts begin to take over your mind while absorbing your surroundings.


	2. Under the Cherry Trees

Closing your textbook for your Intro to Econ class and look over at the other side of your desk where your Psychology and Marketing books are taunting you. You didn’t realize how fast paced school would be now, and you wish that someone had warned you in advance of how many notes you would have to be taking. 

Closing your eyes, you lean back in your chair and sigh. It’s been over a day since Tsukishima asked you to get coffee with him, and you begin to wish you had scheduled it later in the day because you wanted to sleep in. You reach over to check the time on your phone, and it read 7:46 in the evening, “I wonder why Kiyoko isn’t back yet, maybe she’s out with some guy tonight,” you say to yourself, but you laugh and realize that didn’t seem like something she would do so quickly.

You stand up and move to the full body mirror hanging from the door to inspect your condition after all of the studying you just dealt with. Your hair was pulled back into a messy bun, but not in a fashionable sense, and you bent over to pick up your hair brush which managed to end up on the floor. While you brush through your hair you make your way to your wardrobe to see what you were working with for outfits to wear tomorrow.

“Maybe I could wear jeans and a sweater again, or sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Oh or should I wear one of my fall style dresses?” Overthinking about what you should wear wasn’t an uncommon thing you went through, but you felt that this time was different, you hadn’t been asked on a date for over a year, and you had forgotten how to prepare. 

“Woah wait, I am definitely overthinking this, he never even said it was a date. I shouldn’t be taking this so seriously,” you say out loud for no one to hear but yourself. 

You gather your composer and look in the mirror once again to check on your hair, and to your surprise you see that your face has become flushed. You look away and try to take him off of your mind, but that was no simple task, he had caught you off guard at the cafe, and the more you thought about it, the more you realized how attractive he is. You make your way over to your bed and fall head first into your pillow out of frustration. Wondering why everything began to move so quickly, you grunt and rolled over to check your phone again to see if Kiyoko had said anything, but with little surprise you saw no new messages. 

You opened your phone anyways and went to check your high school friends' social media. So many of your friends ended up going to more local colleges near where you used to live, and seeing them together made you feel homesick. Although you were upset you weren’t there with them, you were somewhat shocked to see how many of them were already going to parties so early into the school year, because you and your friends always made sure to prioritize your grades before anything else. 

Frustrated once again, you roll onto the other side of your pillow to set an alarm for 9:50 the next day, and you place your phone on the window sill by your bed. As you begin to doze off, you start to think about how much things have changed since last year in high school, and you are wondering if your decision to not go to college closer to home was a smart one.

————————————————————————————

“Hey! Wake up!” You jump out of your bed to see Kiyoko attempting to shake you awake. 

“Woah, hey, whats up?” You say back to her trying to shake the sleep from your eyes.

“I just came back to the dorm to hear your alarm going off, and you seemed to still be sound asleep,” she replies, and you can tell she is hesitant to see how you will react. 

“It’s fine, it’s fine, what time is it?” You yawn and stand up out of bed to stretch your back. 

Kiyoko looks around for her phone for a moment, “It’s about to be 10:30,” she says when she locates it in her bag. 

Your eyes widen with surprise because you rarely ever sleep through your alarm, “I'm going to be late, damnit, will I have to run again,” you say quietly to yourself forgetting that Kiyoko is there for a moment. 

“Wait hold up, what are you going to be late too,” she questions.

“Well, I was going to tell you last night, but you never came back to the dorm last night,” and you tell her a shortened version of what happened while picking out what clothes to wear, and you end up settling for a brown dress with spaghetti straps and wearing a white turtleneck underneath. 

“Oh my god! Wait! Are you actually going on a date?” Kiyoko basically is jumping with joy, “I am so sorry you didn’t get the chance to tell me last night, I went over to study with someone in my chem class and forgot to tell you.”

You laugh, “calm down a bit, it’s not really a date, but I need to hurry up or I won’t be fashionably late anymore.” 

“Okay, okay,” Kiyoko lets out a fake disappointed sigh, as you grab your keys and open the door to your room, “have fun.”

Shutting the door behind you, you descend the stairs once again and make your way into the mid morning air. The front door to the building clicks closed behind you and you begin to make your way to the part of the campus where you will meet Tsukishima. As you walk along the path, the more you think about it, the more you wonder why he asked you to go with him in the first place because of how nervous he seemed when asking you. 

As you make your way along, you can see the cafe come into view again just like the other day. At first you couldn’t see anyone, but as you got closer, you could make out a tall figure leaning against the side of the building, and you realized that they must be Tsukishima. He was dressed in brown jeans with a black sweatshirt and a flannel over it. He was looking down and scowling at his phone again, “Why is he always scowling like that?” You thought to yourself, but before you could get deeper into your thoughts, Tsukishima noticed you as you got closer and nodded you over. 

“Fancy seeing you here again,” you said while making your way over to him, and you feel your face flush slightly. 

“Hilarious, now do you know what you want? I’ll pay,” he replied while holding the door open for you. 

“Yeah I’ll just have a cappuccino,” you say as you enter the cafe.

Walking through the doors of the cafe, the smells of scones and coffee circle around you and make you feel comfortable. Back in your hometown, your favorite place to study was in cafes, and while traveling, you figured out that no matter where you were, you could always find a good place to get coffee and feel at home. 

You see Tsukishima make his way to the line to order your drinks and you attempt to follow him, “just go find a table, I will get our drinks,” he says before you can get any further.

“Are you sure? I’ve got my wallet,” you reply.

“Yeah, and I have mine too, now go sit down, I will pay,” and he moves up in the line.

Although you just met him the other day, something about him intrigues you, you wonder why he always seems to be scowling, and why he keeps his phrases so short and simple with a bit of a harsh tone. You look out the window and see people passing by, trying to imagine what someone is doing or where someone was going. It has always been a fun game you liked to play with yourself, and there were so many new people to see at college.“That girl with short blonde hair might be on her way to one of her science classes, and that man with grey hair might be on his way to the library,” you thought to yourself. 

You were brought back to reality when someone said your name, and you realized Tsukishima was back with your drinks. You picked up the cappuccino and took a sip of the perfect blend of foam, coffee, and milk, all swirling around with an amazing aroma. You look back at Tsukishima and see his drink which just looks like black coffee or espresso. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pay you back? Or get you something else?” You ask again.

“No, I already told you the point of coming here was to make up for getting your jeans stained.”

You didn’t know much about this guy yet, but you could tell he looked irked. It seemed to you like he didn’t really want to be there, but then why was he here with you. You thought for a moment of asking if he was alright, but instead, you thought it might be a better move to try to change the mood.

“So, what year of college are you in?” You asked him, in an attempt to break the ice. 

“I’m a freshman, I took a year off of school between high school and college,” he said in between sips of coffee, “what year are you in?” 

His age somewhat shocked you, he seemed like he should be older, “I’m actually a freshman too,” you replied with an awkward laugh, “but I went straight from high school to college, I wish I had taken a gap year though.”

“My school actually recommended taking a gap year,” he said and looked up at you, “they told us it would take some stress off our shoulders, why didn't you take a year off?” 

Ahh there it was, the topic which he hadn’t brought up, but how could he have known, it’s not like you had the chance to give him conversation guidelines before you met at the cafe. “I went straight to college because of my parents' expectations for me. I am the oldest sibling, and they wanted me to make it in the world. They basically told me that if I took a gap year they wouldn’t help fund my tuition, and I am not in the position to pay for college on my own.”

He gave you a sincere glance, but it quickly changed back to the typical stern expression, “why did you come to this school in the first place?” He then asked,without giving a response to your last answer. 

This question you didn’t know how to answer exactly, “well, because this has always been one of my dream schools, I guess?” The more you thought about it the more you realized you didn’t really know how to answer it, “but to be honest though, I don't really know why I choose to come here, the business program is good, and that’s what I am going to major in, so that is a positive.”

Trying to shake off the question, you looked back at him as you took the last sip of your drink and set it on the table, and you saw that he already finished his. You tried to stifle a laugh because you hadn’t found anyone who can drink coffee as fast as you can. As you were thinking to yourself about why he wasn’t answering the questions that he asked you, he stood up, and it seemed like he was preparing to leave.

“Going so soon?” You jokingly teased.

“I bought you coffee, what else is there to do?” He asked.

He made a good point, all he asked was to buy you coffee, this wasn’t meant to be a date, it was just an apology for the other day. After you thought for a minute, you came up with an idea of a place to take him. 

“Tsukishima?” You said, and then felt your face flush again slightly because you had never really said his name out loud before, “do you have any more free time?”

He just gave a nod, and you took that as a “yes” from him. You placed your cups into the dirty dishes bin by the door, and made your way out the door, and you held it open for Tsukishima this time around. You checked the time, and it was now 11:45, more time had passed then you thought. “Why isn’t he asking me where I’m taking him?” You thought to yourself.

You followed the red brick walkway, with Tsukishima just behind you. You passed the big concrete building that stood out like a sore thumb on the campus, but this meant you were close. You turned the corner and your eyes were filled with colors. You had reached the tree grove that was located on campus. Oranges, yellows, and reds were scattered along the grass and in the tree branches.

Going up closer to the trees, you found the one that had caught your eye on the first day you were here exploring the area, a very medium, average tree, but it had a strong trunk that you liked to lean against. You went to it and sat down on the grass with your back to the trunk. You looked back at Tsukishima who looked a bit hesitant, but he ended up giving in and found a tree to lean against near you. 

“Why are we here?” He asked you.

“I just really love this spot, it helps me clear my head,” you took a deep breath of the fresh air, “I am no trying to sound over bearing, but I had noticed that you had a stressed expression set on your face for a lot of the time we were in the cafe, so I thought here would be a nice place to relax for a minute.” 

Both of you sat in silence for a few minutes, and when you looked back at him, you noticed although he didn’t have an entirely relaxed expression, he did look a bit calmer, so you had done what you were trying to accomplish. 

“A lot of these trees are cherry trees,” Tsukishima remarked, “you are able to tell because of the shape of their leaves. There will be a lot of blossoms here next spring.” 

You smiled, he seemed to be enjoying himself, even if it was just the slightest bit, “I was meaning to ask you earlier, did someone tell you to come to the cafe with me?” You finally found the right time to ask the question that had been lingering in the back of your mind, and you felt like you already had the answer. 

Tsukishima sighed, “I didn’t realize that you had caught on so quickly, was I really that obvious? Well either way, I told my friend Yamaguchi how you ran into me in the cafe, and he told me it would be best to try to apologize by getting you coffee.” 

You laughed, “When you asked me to come to the cafe with you it sounded like you had read off of a script,” you said with a playful tease thrown in. You checked the time on your phone again, and only 15 minutes had passed since the last time you had checked. “Should I make up an excuse to leave? I feel like it just got a lot more awkward between us,” you thought to yourself. 

Right as you were about to open your mouth and try to improvise, Tsukishima beat you to it, “even though this wasn’t my idea, I still enjoyed myself,” he had relaxed his face even more, and you saw he was twirling one of the tree’s orange leaves between his fingers. 

You let out a quiet relieved sigh, grateful that you didn’t have to make up some lame excuse, “I’m glad you were able to enjoy yourself.” The next move you made seemed like it was fitting, it seemed like a good time to say goodbye, even though you felt the urge to stay and talk more, you felt like you would have other chances. “Well, I will see you another time then!”

Right as you had stood up to turn around, Tsukishima called out to you, “before you go, can I ask for your phone number? It could maybe.. be nice to see each other again?” You smiled, you could tell he was nervous again, but it felt different from when he asked you to get coffee with him, because this time he didn't script it.

He handed you his phone with his contact list open for you to add yours. You typed in your phone number and name, and added a “:)” next to it. You handed back his phone, waved goodbye, and headed in the direction of your dorm. For yet another time today, you felt your face get hot from blushing, but this time you didn’t try to get rid of the feeling, for it was something that you hadn’t felt in what seemed like too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for supporting this so far <3


	3. Unknown Number

You open the door to the large lecture hall for your Intro to Econ class, and look around for the same spot you sat in last Tuesday, but it has been taken. You got there later than you did last week, and there were less available seats. You locate a seat in one of the further back rows and try to navigate through the crowd of people. As you place your books down on the desk in front of you, you see the professor enter the room and begin to connect his laptop to the document camera at the front of the room. Once again you look around the room to see if you can see anyone familiar, but this time you don’t see Tsukishima, and you don’t know anyone else. 

The professor finally managed to get his set up working, and he began to start the lesson. You take out your pen and notebook to find the note sheet where you left off last class, when someone speaking quietly near you catched you off guard, “excuse me, pardon me, sorry, I’m trying to get through here. Sorry!” You see a girl trying to navigate her way through desks, and she is getting closer. She has short blonde hair and has part of it tied up in a small ponytail. She looks like she could be between 4’10 to 5 feet tall. 

She gets closer to you and you see her give an awkward smile and nod towards you as she makes her way to the open seat next to you. She places a black backpack down by her feet as she takes the seat and gathers her things. Something about her is slightly familiar, but you can’t place your finger on what. 

“I’m sorry if I distracted you,” she whispers towards you, “I lost track of time getting ready this morning and had to rush over here.”

You giggle under your breath because of how flustered she looks, “no, it’s fine, the class just started anyways,” you whisper back and tell her your name. 

“Well that’s good, my name is Yachi,” she smiles and nods back to the front of the class, indicating that she was going to start paying attention to the professor. 

As the professor droned on about the basics of supply and demand, your mind began to wander again, back to your home town. You had always had an easier time to meet new people and make new friends, even if you were more introverted than your other friends. This time the environment felt different, it felt like everyone either already had made friends and acquaintances and friends, or they seemed too nervous to try. You wanted so bad to branch out and meet new people, but you didn’t know what to do. 

“Is Tsukishima really even considered an acquaintance?” You thought to yourself, “we barely even know each other, and he still hasn’t messaged me from when I gave him my number last week.” You scowled and put your head in your hands. 

These feelings of homesickness and being alone were new to you. Growing up, you had always been surrounded with people you could trust, and even though this was only about your third week on campus, you already wish you could go back to visit everyone you missed. 

“Alright! I hope everyone got some good notes on supply and demand,” the professor's voice jolted you back to reality, “we will be picking this up again on Thursday, please finish reviewing chapter one of your textbook, and start chapter two before then.” 

You looked around and saw everyone gathering their things and making their way to the double doors at either side of the room to be on their way. You didn’t realize how long you had been spacing out and you sighed, “I guess I will be doing some serious studying later tonight,” and you followed the crowd of people and made your way for the doors closest to you. 

You made it out into the foyer where you saw Yachi standing against the wall, and she was quickly tapping her fingers across her phone screen. She looked up and saw that you had glanced her way, and she waved you over. She continued to type something into her phone, and then she took off her back pack and put it into one of the front pockets. 

“Hey, I was just wondering if you wanted me to help you study later today,” she asked you with a shy smile on her face, “you just seemed a bit lost in thought earlier when I looked over at you, so I could help you if you would like.” 

Embarrassed that she noticed you weren’t paying attention in class, you looked away for a moment, but then you realized how good of a thing this could be for you, “sure, I would love that if I don’t get in the way of your schedule,” you reply. 

“No, no, not at all, don’t worry about it,” she reassured you, “ I’m free now if you are.”

“Yeah I am free, I’ve only got this one class on Tuesdays,” you give a small smile and adjust your bag that’s on your shoulder. 

You follow her out of the building, unaware of where you two are headed yet, but you begin thinking that this could be a chance to make a new friend, so you want to try to make the best of the situation. You step outside and are greeted with a gust of wind straight in the face, and you become thankful that you wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt today to stay warmer. 

“We can head to the library if that’s alright,” Yachi says as she allows you to catch up to her. 

“That sounds great, I’ve heard that the library here is pretty impressive,” you say as you try to tame your hair from the wind that's blowing around, but you are not having much luck. As you get closer to the library building, you can see large double doors with a bronze leaf pattern around the edge for the entrance.

Once you get close enough, you hold the door open for Yachi, and say, “ladies first,” in a joking tone to make her laugh, and she goes in first. Once you step through, you realize that what you heard about the library was no joke, it definitely didn’t disappoint. You can see the rows of tables spread out through a big room behind the book check out. On the tables you saw lamps with golden tinted shades scattered out on some of the tables, and a few stacks of books that varied in size remained out in the open from a user who didn’t bring them back to their correct shelf. The book shelves lined the room, and there seemed to be about 15 small isles you can walk into. 

Yachi motioned over to a vacant table, and you followed her over. You slung your shoulder bag onto the back of your chair, and pulled it out to sit on the opposite side from where Yachi sat down.You pulled out your phone to see if you had any new messages, but there were no new notifications of merit to look at. You began to wish that you hadn’t fallen out of touch with your hometown friends so soon. 

Yachi pulled out her notebook and started flipping through the pages, “what would you say you need the most help with?” She asked you once she found the page she was looking for. 

“It would be great if you could just do a basic run down about the things the professor told us about supply and demand,” you say, knowing that you will review the textbook chapter later anyways. “Thank you again so much for doing this,” you smile and open your notebook to where you left off the other day. 

————————————————————————————

You yawn and stretch back in your seat and close your notebook. You really had underestimated how much material Yachi would cover, that you didn’t think that you would even have to review the chapter that night. You stand up and grab your bag off of the end of your chair, and wait for Yachi to do the same. Both of you make your way towards the exit, and you swear to yourself that you will definitely be coming back to this library soon. 

As you exit the main double doors, you thank Yachi a third time for all of the help she gave you. You give an attempt of smiling and waving at her, but the wind has not calmed down, and your hair is blowing all around your face. 

“Wait, before I leave, do you mind if I ask for your phone number?” You ask, feeling glad you remembered to ask her before you left. 

You handed her your phone and she put in her contact information, and sent a text to herself to make sure she got it. This time she waved at you goodbye and watched her turn around without looking back. You had a warm feeling inside you, you felt proud of yourself for managing to actually become acquainted with someone new who you actually liked being around. 

You turned the opposite way that Yachi was headed, and went back on your way to your dorm, slipping your phone into one of your pockets. The distance from the library to your dorm was shorter than you had expected, and it turned out that you had taken the long way to get there from the building where your last class was held. You turned your fast walk into a jog in an attempt to get out of the cold wind. 

Once you get close enough, you unlock the door with your key card, and it unlocks for you to open. The temperature inside isn’t exactly warm, but it definitely beats being stuck in the wind. You ascend the stairs, and as you do you can feel the temperature rising from the thermostats that are located on each floor. Your dorm may not be the best thing you’ve ever stayed in, but at least they have a good heating system for the fall and winter. You get to the third floor where your room is located and you take out your key to unlock the door. You expected Kiyoko to be in the room, and when you saw she wasn’t you had a slight hesitation, until you remembered that she mentioned she had a group project she had to help work on tonight. You thought for a minute about what classes she had on Tuesdays, but you couldn't remember, and promised yourself to ask her later.

You untie your shoes and toss them in the corner by your wardrobe and flop over onto your bed to lay on your back. You take your phone out of your pocket, holding it over your face. You clock the on button, but as you do, you see a message from a number you don’t recognize pop up on the screen. 

“Hey.” The message reads. You click on the notification to see that there is another text to read. 

“It’s Tsukishima, you gave me your number the other day.”

You sit up on your bed with your legs out in front of you, “so he finally messaged me,” you thought to yourself. 

Y/n: Yeah I did, what’s up? You reply. Starting and keeping conversations going over text has never been your strong suit, but you are already thinking of ways to not let it drop. 

Tsukishima: I mean not too much, I just got tired of reading over the chapter for intro to econ 

Y/n: Oh yeah, I have that class too, I’m pretty sure I saw you last week. If you ever need any help, let me know :)

“Why did I say that? I couldn’t even take notes on a main concept in class today,” you say to yourself and knock yourself on the head. 

Tsukishima: Well I will keep that in mind then

You saw and read that message, but there was nothing to build off of, and this is why you hated having conversations over text. You sat there for a minute thinking of what you could say back to that, when you had another text notification from him come onto the screen. 

Tsukishima: Were you warm enough today? It got pretty cold with all of the wind

Y/n: Yeah I was fine, I ended up going to the library for a while earlier and it was pretty warm in there

“Nice one,” you said to yourself, “this is officially one of the driest conversations I’ve had in awhile. I hope I’m not the only one struggling here. 

Tsukishima: Sorry, I’m not the best at talking over text

You laughed, “well that was convenient.”

Y/n: Don’t worry about it 

It occurred to you, “Would this be a good time to ask him if he wants to talk more in person? Oh it definitely would. Or is that awkward. No, no, don’t overthink it, just do it.” you said in an attempt to reassure yourself.

Y/n: Do you want to go somewhere this week? We can talk more in person then

You had closed your eyes and sent the message, wondering why you had so quickly become nervous while talking to him. You had seen plenty of other guys who resembled or acted somewhat like him, but he was different in a way that you couldn’t put your finger on. 

Tsukishima: Sure, does Friday at 3:00 work?

Y/n: Friday at 3 sounds great, I’ll see you in front of the coffee shop

You smiled. Friday at 3 in the afternoon, this definitely felt like it was going to be more of a date this time, opposed to a forceful outing. You rolled over on to your stomach and shoved your face into the pillow and laughed, 

“Friday at three sounds great,” you repeated as you realized how tired you had become. You closed your eyes and let the sleep catch up to you, all while wishing Friday could come sooner.


	4. Overthinking

You open the doors to the cafe on the main campus for what felt like the millionth time that week. The smells of coffee and tea wrap around you, but instead of making you feel warm and happy, this time they just made you feel sick to your stomach. There weren't as many people as there usually was inside, but it was around 4:00 in the afternoon on a Thursday, so it made sense. You step up to the counter, and instead of ordering coffee, you go for just a plain green tea. You pay for your drink and move to the side to wait for your drink to be made, hoping you could leave the building even a second sooner. 

You hear the bell that was placed on the black marble counter give off a familiar chime, and the barista calls your name. You look down at your hands to make sure your wallet has been clipped closed, and you move up to grab your tea. You made sure to get a to-go cup this time, because you had no intention of staying in the cafe any longer than you needed to today. 

Unlike the other days, when you opened the door to the outside, you happily welcomed the cold, fresh air. You had a set destination in mind to where you wanted to go this afternoon, you wanted to go to the tree grove where you had gone with Tsukishima. You repositioned your book bag on your shoulder, and started off in a fast paced walk. It was colder today, but there was less wind, so you didn’t mind much. You sighed, all you wanted was to go back and see your friends in your hometown, but you tried to shake it off because you thought it just sounded pathetic. 

As you neared the grove, you located a bench that you wanted to claim a spot on. You readjusted your sweater so it fit more comfortably around your arms. Although the sweater tended to make you uncomfortable, it always made you feel safe when you wore it, you had gotten it from a random thrift store during a road trip, and you loved to pair it with mom jeans. The sweater had stood out to you in the shop when you bought it, it had an unusual pattern, and it looked like something a grandfather might wear, but you liked how well it complimented the colors of autumn, and you couldn't resist it. 

You approached the bench you wanted to sit on, and you set your book bag down next to you. Looking up, you saw the reds and oranges of the leaves around you, but you saw that there were more leaves on the ground than on the actual tree. You open your bag and pull out your sketchbook and pen, not knowing why you really had brought it along, or what you were going to draw, but you look down at the paper and begin to space out and start drawing anything that comes to mind. 

You didn’t draw as much as you used to when you were in highschool, but today felt like you really needed to so you wouldn’t stress out too much. You couldn’t stop thinking about your parents and friends back home. You had been away from them for a while before, but this time was different, and as more and more days passed, you felt like you were missing something. Your parents had always pressured you to join harder level classes and take extra curriculars, and you never realized that you had become so dependent on their validation. 

“Only As,” your parents would always tell you, “any time you get a grade above 100% we will give you a dollar.” Thinking back to these moments made you sad, because they had never once congratulated you on the hard work you were doing, they just tried to push you harder and harder. 

For a moment you debated picking up your phone and dialing your mothers number to tell her about your school so far, but decided that it wouldn’t do any good, it would just make you feel worse. Your parents had told you they were pushing you because no one was there to push them when they were younger, and so you had to make them proud. Your friends had always helped and supported you, but they weren’t here to help you now.

You felt a tear roll down your cheek and drop onto your paper. You had gotten into a good college, but didn’t know where to go with your major, so you just settled for business and psychology. Deep down you didn’t want to work, you wanted to travel the world and see new sights, but you could hear your parents telling you that you needed to work relentlessly to get what you want in life. 

Remembering you bought tea at the cafe, you pick up your drink and take a sip as well as a deep breath. You set aside your paper and pen without looking at what you had drawn, and you cupped your face in your hands, letting tears drop from your eyes. 

“What am I going to do,” you said to yourself, “I don’t even like business.” 

You coughed, trying to cover up for the fact that you were about to burst into tears, and you removed your hands from your face. You wiped your sleeve over your eyes to dry your tears, and you picked up your sketchpad to see what you had drawn, and you saw that while you were spaced out, you had drawn a portrait of Kiyoko. 

“Kiyoko,” you whispered. 

You didn’t know much about her even though you had been roommates for a while now because you weren’t in the dorm together much lately, besides when you were sleeping. You saw her beautiful black hair which you had replicated onto your paper as well as her delicate facial features that were almost porcelain like. You wondered about the life she had before you met her, was it full of stress? Were people fawning over her? Did she have as much stress as you did over academics? 

The more you thought about the past, the more you realized you just wanted someone you could relate to. You lifted your legs and sat cross legged on the bench with your hands wrapped around your tea. You looked down at your phone and saw that the time was almost 5:30, it got later much faster than you had realized.

You took another sip from your drink and sighed, letting the warm tea comfort you, feeling glad that you had been able to come to your senses. Spending this time in the grove helped you more than you thought it was going to, after realizing how you felt about your parents, you felt more calm, and your eyebrows had been able to relax after crying. You took out your phone to get out the camera, and you flipped it to selfie mode, to see a smear of masara underneath each eye, and you laughed at how you looked. 

The sky had begun to dim, and you stood up from your safe place on the bench to place your pen and sketchbook back into your bag, making sure to rip out the picture of Kiyoko before you closed it. You took your final sip from your tea, and removed the lid. You took the picture of Kiyoko and crumpled it up into a ball to set right inside the cup, placing the lid back on once again. You lifted your bag back onto your shoulder and made your way to the closet spot out of the grove, and you headed towards the nearest trash can, about 20 feet away.

Whenever you spaced out and drew to calm yourself, you had a tradition of throwing out your drawings in your drink cups, no matter how good they were. Although you loved the drawing you had made of Kiyoko, you had made it while fighting back tears and remembering the negatives of your past, and you didn’t want to hold onto a constant reminder of that. 

You made your way towards the trash can and looked into the bin full of food scraps of paper, and without hesitating, you tossed the tea cup in with the mess. Turning away from the trash can, you went in a straight line towards the direction in which you entered the grove, the way back to your dorm. You closed your eyes for a moment, even though your love for art never left, you hoped you wouldn't be doing that again any time soon, and you headed off.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction I have ever written, so I hope you all enjoy! I will try to update chapters when I can (which will probably be more frequent than not)
> 
> I will give updates things like that on my tiktok @oatmeal_luvr1
> 
> ADDITIONAL NOTE: everything that I post to Ao3 I will also be posting to wattpad with the username lucyy667


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